Tandberg pushes video kit

Videoconferencing vendor Tandberg has released three new products aimed at smoothing the path for deploying video phone technology on enterprise desktops.

The three products launched are: the Video VoIP Phone; a new telepresence engine; and a new display screen called the Experia T1.

The new Video VoIP Phone is scalable for enterprise deployment, has an Ultra-wideband 20kHz speaker phone.

Tandberg’s regional support manager Western Europe spokesman Steve Beckley said in addition to the quality of the video, "one of the features customers like about the phone is the clear audio output from the speakers.”

The Video VoIP Phone also has acoustic echo cancellation, a high-resolution camera with integrated privacy shutter, 768 x 448 (w448p) video resolution, 10.6 " wide format LCD display with wide extended graphics array (WXGA) resolution, and firewall traversal through Tandberg’s Video Communications Server (VCS) Expressway.

The bandwidth required for session initiation protocol (SIP) is up to 768Kbit/s, although Beckley said that 384kbit/s and 512 kbit/s also gave good image quality. Codec support includes MPEG4, AAC-LD, G.729ab, G.722, G.722.1, and G.711.

Tandberg also launched a new Telepresence Engine, a 2U appliance designed to deliver 1920 x 1080 (1080p) high definition video and ultra-wideband audio. The appliance has five video inputs which can be run simultaneously and can host a 1280 x 720, 30 frames per second (720p30) high definition (HD) individual transcoding embedded multisite with up to 10Mbit/s total bandwidth for this multisite.

Tandberg said it is ideal for telepresence and collaboration studios, boardrooms, auditoriums, and education applications. It also has an optimal definition up to 1080p and can use H.323/SIP up to 6Mbit/s point-to-point. Up to 12 HD sources and 8 microphones can be connected directly into the interface, with full duplex audio with and stereo.

The final product launched is the Experia T1, a high definition 65-inch custom LCD screen, offering 1080p resolution with full duplex audio with stereo, which Tandberg said could be used in smaller telepresence studios, executive offices, high-end conference rooms and the showroom floors.

IP communications, including IP telephony, telepresence, videoconferencing, and VoIP are currently being touted by vendors as a way to reduce carbon emissions through cutting back on employees' travel.